The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 489

PERRY O'NEAL.

Perry O'Neal is the owner of forty acres of land on the Cowiche and is making
good profit in the raising of grain and hay. In fact he is numbered among the
successful farmers of that district and, moreover, he is entitled to
distinction as one of the first to win success in the cultivation of potatoes as
a commercial crop. Mr. O'Neal comes to the northwest from Iowa. He was born in
LeGrand township, Marshall county, Iowa, July 10, 1862, a son of James and Mary
Anne (McCool) O'Neal. The father was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, while the
mother's birth occurred near Dayton, that state. They became pioneer residents
of Iowa, where they settled in 1856, and the father engaged in business as a
bricklayer, having learned the trade in early life. He also owned and cultivated
a farm. His parents were James and Maria (Ogden) O'Neal, both of whom were born
in Ohio, their people being pioneers of Cincinnati. They never left that state
but their son, James O'Neal, sought the opportunities of the growing west and
continued a resident of Iowa to the time of his demise.

Reared under the parental roof, Perry O'Neal acquired a good public school
education while spending his youthful days in Iowa, where he was early trained
to the work of the home farm, becoming familiar with all the duties and labors
incident to the development and cultivation of the fields there. He afterward
removed to Faulk county, South Dakota, where he took up a homestead, upon which
he lived for three years, and later he spent four years in Dawes county,
Nebraska. He next returned to Iowa and for seven years was a resident of Palo
Alto county but in the fall of 1898 came to Yakima county, Washington, and
rented land on Nob Hill. He afterward bought land near the present site of
Selah. He was one of the pioneers of that district and located there when it was
entirely wild and undeveloped. He built the first house on Selah Heights that
was painted and plastered -- a little dwelling of five rooms. He began the
raising of potatoes and was so successful in the production of that crop that he
was nicknamed "Spud" O'Neal, for he was one of the first in the valley to make
good money on potatoes. He now resides at Selah but sold the Selah ranch and
purchased forty acres on the Cowiche, which is devoted to the raising of hay
and grain. In all of his operations as a farmer he has been very successful and
has contributed in no small measure to the development of this section of the
state.

On the 9th of July, 1883, Mr. O'Neal was united in marriage to Miss Ida
McLaughlin, who was born in Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa, a daughter of the
Hon. Alvin and Esther (Traver) McLaughlin. Her father, who was a successful
merchant and stockman, was also prominent in public affairs and was called upon
to represent his district in the state legislature. He died at the home of a son
in Spokane, Washington, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, and his wife
has also passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal have been born three children:
Beatrice, the eldest, is the wife of O. E. Elliott, a rancher of the Cowiche
valley, and they have five children; Raymond, a policeman of Yakima, is married
and has a daughter, Lois; Bert is now in France with the United States army,
serving as a sergeant in Company E, Three Hundred and Sixteenth Ammunition Train
of the Ninety-first Division.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Neal are consistent and faithful members of the Christian church
and in politics he is a republican. With many events that have had to do with
shaping the pioneer history of this section he has been closely associated and
he has contributed in no small measure to the agricultural progress of the
region. Throughout his entire life he has been actuated by a laudable ambition
that has prompted unfaltering effort in the attainment of success and his energy
has enabled him to overcome all difficulties and obstacles in his path.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.